JOSE's 200th and he has been "AROUND A BIT"!

On this day in 2020, Jose Mourinho recorded his 200th Premier League win, as a manager, with a victory for Tottenham Hotspur 1 v Everton 0.

Jose became just the fifth Premier League manager to reach the 200 mark in his 326th match. Well done the Portuguese born manager!! An own goal by Michael Keane was the difference as Spurs won 1-0 in a dour clash, to move up to eighth in the league. Jose celebrated his 200th league victory. Defeat would have sent Spurs to the bottom half of the table but in the end, Spurs won fairly comfortably, stretching their unbeaten league run versus Everton to 15 matches. Midfielder Giovani Lo Celso scored his first Premier League goal for Tottenham in the 23rd minute.

Personal information
Full name	José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix
Date of birth	26 January 1963 (age 63)
Place of birth	Setúbal, Portugal
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Real Madrid (head coach)
Youth career
1978-1980	Belenenses
Senior PLAYING career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1980–1982	Rio Ave	0	(0)
1982–1983	Belenenses	0	(0)
1983–1985	Sesimbra	35	(1)
1985–1987	Comércio e Indústria	27	(8)
Total		62	(9)
Managerial career
2000	Benfica
2001–2002	União de Leiria
2002–2004	Porto
2004–2007	Chelsea
2008–2010	Inter Milan
2010–2013	Real Madrid
2013–2015	Chelsea
2016–2018	Manchester United
2019–2021	Tottenham Hotspur
2021–2024	Roma
2024–2025	Fenerbahçe
2025–2026	Benfica
2026–	Real Madrid

  
        

THE HAMMERS FROM 1900

5th July 1900
Turning the clock back to 1900 there was just one London club playing in the Football League - Arsenal, then Woolwich Arsenal. Of the smaller London clubs, the Thames Ironworks club was starting to make a bit of a name for itself. The club was founded in 1895 as the works side of the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company. The 1897/98 season saw them finish as London League Champions, while they ended in the next season, the 1898/99, as Southern League Second Division champions!! A poor season followed in the Southern League First Division with admin and financial problems seeing the club disband in June 1900. 

Then on 5th July 1900 the club reformed under a new name and took over the place in the Southern League left vacant by Thames Ironworks. The new club retained most of the Ironworks players as well as the old clubs nicknames - The Hammers and the Irons - but the new official club name was to become reasonably well known in years to come....West Ham United!!

The club now plays at the London Stadium, having moved from their former home, the Boleyn Ground, in 2016.

West Ham United was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. It moved to the Boleyn Ground, which remained its home ground for more than a century, in 1904. The team initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before joining the Football League in 1919. The club was promoted to the top flight in 1923, when it was also losing finalist, to Bolton Wanderers in the first FA Cup Final held at Wembley. The aerial photo shows the FA Cup Final "fully" overcrowded at Wembley. AND here is a copy of the historic programme.

In 1940, the club won the inaugural Football League War Cup.

Prior to 1923, the FA Cup Final was staged at seven different locations, with the first being held at the Kennington Oval in 1872. Over the next fifty years, the final would take place across the country at Lillie Bridge, Manchester’s Fallowfield Stadium, Everton’s Goodison Park, The Crystal Palace, Manchester United’s Old Trafford and Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge.

Further one-off replays were held at the Racecourse Ground, Burnden Park and Bramall Lane: the homes of Derbyshire County Cricket Club, Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United respectively.

SALAH AND EGYPT

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan, below,  

has cast doubt on whether Mohamed Salah will ‌start today's World Cup, last-32, showdown with Australia in Dallas as the 34-year-old continues his recovery ​from a hamstring injury. You will probably know he was born on  15th June 1992 in Nagrig Egypt. His salary is 20.8 million GBP (2026) that Mohamed Salah Hamed Mahrous Ghaly is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a right winger or right midfielder for and captains the Egypt national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best players of his generation and one of the greatest wingers of all time. Salah took some part in training on Wednesday after picking up a hamstring strain in last week's 1-1 draw with Iran, as Egypt collected the point they needed to progress to ‌the World Cup knockout stages for the first time. Salah asked to come off with 33 minutes remaining against Iran and his fight to regain fitness has cast a shadow over his team's preparations for one ‌of the biggest games in their history.

"Salah is a passionate player and he is very much looking forward ​to making his own contribution," the Egypt coach said.

"I'm not going to run any risk unless I'm 100 per cent sure he is fit and raring to go tomorrow.

"We look forward to ​him playing tomorrow, but we're not sure if he's going to ⁠be in the starting line-up."

Salah has scored just ⁠once so far at this World Cup, getting his team's second goal as Egypt bounced back to defeat New Zealand in the group stages.

The Egypt national football team, nicknamed The Pharaohs, represents Egypt in men's international football, and is governed by the Egyptian FA (EFA), the governing body of football in Egypt. Egypt is the oldest and most successful team in the history of African football, having won the African Cup of Nations for a record seven times and reached the final ten times. They won the cup three times consecutively in 2006, 2008, and 2010 (a feat unmatched by any other team). Egypt has also participated in the FIFA World Cup four times, becoming the first African and Middle Eastern team to do so, in the 1934 Edition. In 2010, Egypt reached 9th place in the FIFA World Rankings, marking a massively successful year in which they won the 2010 African Cup of Nations and defeated World Champions Italy in the FIFA Confed Cup.

GHANA TODAY

 You will know why I am writing about this African country football team! The Ghana National Football team is named the Black Stars after the national flag's Black Star!! The team is governed by the Ghana Football Association and prior to 1957, it played known as the Gold Coast.

Ghana qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 2006. It has won the African Nations Cup four times (1963, 1965, 1978, and 1982), while finishing as runners-up five times (1968, 1970, 1992, 2010, and 2015). Ghana have qualified for the CHAN (African Cup of Nations) four times, finishing as runners-up twice (2009 and 2014).

On 19 August 1962 at the Accra Sports Stadium, Ghana hosted Real Madrid, who were at the time Spanish Champions, drawing 3–3. Charles Kumi Gyamfi became coach in 1961, leading Ghana to successive African Cup of Nations titles, in 1963 and 1965. The Black Stars achieved their record win, 13–2 away to Kenya, in the latter. It reached the final of the tournament in 1968 and 1970, losing 1–0 on both occasions, to DR Congo and Sudan respectively. Its domination of the tournament earned it the nickname "the Black Stars of Africa" in the 1960s.

Fortunes changed for the Black Stars after it failed to qualify for three successive AFCON's in the 1970s. In the 1980s, with emerging talents such as Abedi Pele, the Black Stars defeated 1982 AFCON hosts Libya in the final to win its fourth continental title. Fortunes changed again, as in the 1984 tournament, it was knocked out in the group stages, before failing to qualify for the 1986, 1988 and 1990 tournaments. In 1992, the Black Stars would finish runners-up to the Ivory Coast in a penalty shootout after a goalless draw, which saw every player on the pitch take a penalty, in which they were beaten 11-10, with African Footballer of the Year Abedi Pele suspended for the final.

Tensions among the squad led to the parliamentary and executive to intervene and settle issues between players Abedi Pele and Toby Yeboah. In the 1990s, this may have played some part in the failure of the team to build on the successes of the national underage teams. The generation of Black Stars players who went to the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship final became the "core" of the team at the 2002 African Cup of Nations, going undefeated for a year in 2005 and qualifying for the final tournament of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The Black Stars started by succumbing to a 2–0 defeat to eventual champions Italy, and wins over Czech Republic (2–0) and the United States (2–1). This saw it advance through to the second round, where it lost 3–0 to Brazil.

Under head coach Milovan Rajevac, the Black Stars went on to secure a 100% win record in its qualification campaign, winning its group and becoming the first African team to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In the final tournament, it was placed in Group D with Germany, Serbia and Australia, advancing to the round of 16 after finishing second in their group. Ghana played the United States, winning 2–1 in extra time to become only the third African nation to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, before losing to Uruguay in a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals, after Uruguayan forward Luis Suárez blocked a header with his hand in the penalty box in extra time and was sent off. Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty given for the handball, with the score 1–1. Ghana went on to lose the penalty shootout 4–2.

In 2013, Ghana became the first team to reach four consecutive African Cup of Nations semi-finals twice, with the first occasion between 1963 and 1970.

The Black Stars won their second round group of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying, and defeated Egypt 7–3 on aggregate in a two-legged play-off, qualifying for the finals. It was drawn in Group G for the finals, where it faced Germany, Portugal, and the USA. It exited in the group stage recording one draw against eventual champions Germany and two losses, and was the only team to not lose to Germany in the tournament, and the only team to hold onto a lead against the Germans at any point.

In the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, Ghana reached the final, being denied the title on penalties against Ivory Coast. While its 2017 Africa Cup of Nations campaign ended in a 4th-place finish, it finished behind Egypt and Uganda in its final group qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. 

At the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, Ghana was eliminated by Tunisia in the round of 16. In 2021, manager Rajevac was brought back, and the Black Stars ended up failing to win any match at the AFCON where it lost 2–3 to debutants the Comoros (know where this is?) to finish bottom of their group, failing to progress beyond the group stage for the first time since 2006. 

Ghana drew 0–0 in a match against Nigeria and drew 1–1 in Nigeria to qualify for the 2022 World Cup on goal difference. During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, it lost its first match against Portugal 3–2. Ghana earned a victory in its second match against South Korea by the same scoreline. A victory against Uruguay was required for a spot in the round of 16 in a rematch of the 2010 quarter-final; Ghana instead lost 2–0 and thus finished bottom, while Uruguay was eliminated as well, as a result of South Korea upsetting Portugal. 

Ghana failed to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, for the first time since 2004, as it finished bottom of the group below Angola, Sudan and Nigeria. 

The 2025 World Cup Qualification: in September drew 1-1 away at Chad. Then beat Mali 1-0 at home and the Central African Rep 0-5 away. Next in October beat Comoros 1-0 at home.

2026 World Cup Qualifiers: Ghana 5-0 Chad: Madagascar 0-3 Ghana: Chad v Ghana 1-1: Ghana v Mali 1-1: CAR  v Ghana 0-5: Ghana v Comoros 1-0:

World Cup Ties: 17th June- Toronto: Ghana 1-0 Panama: 23 June- Foxborough: England v Ghana:   27th June- Philadelphia: Croatia v Ghana.

YES IT'S THE FIFA WORLD CUP-HAD YOU NOTICED?

Beginning of the World Cup

Centenario Stadium in the Uruguayan city of Montevideo, stage of the final of the first FIFA World Cup in 1930

Eventually, FIFA made the decision to stage their own international tournament. Heaven knows what took "them" so long to organise! FIFA president Jules Rimet thus set about organizing the inaugural World Cup competition. With Uruguay now a two-time Olympic champion and due to celebrate its centenary of independence in 1930, FIFA named Uruguay as the host country.

The national associations of selected nations were invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the Atlantic Ocean for the European sides at the time of the Great Depression. No European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded the national teams of Belgium, France, Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia to make the trip and play the tournament. In total, 13 nations took part – seven from South America, four from Europe, and two from North America.

The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously and were won by France and the United States who beat Mexico 4–1 and Belgium 3–0, respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by Lucien Laurent of France. Four days later, the first World Cup hat-trick was achieved by Bert Patenaude of the U.S. in the Americans' 3–0 win against Paraguay. In the Final, Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo to become the first nation to win the World Cup.

The 1932 Summer Olympics held in Lost Angeles did not include football as part of the programme. FIFA and the IOC also disagreed over the status of amateur players, and so football was dropped from the Games.

The 1934 World Cup was hosted by Italy and was the first World Cup to include a qualification stage. Sixteen teams qualified for the tournament, a number which would be retained until the expansion of the finals tournament in 1982. Uruguay, the titleholders from 1930, still upset about the poor European attendance at their World Cup in 1930, boycotted the 1934 World Cup, the only time the defending champions didn't take part in the next tournament. Bolivia and Paraguay were also absent, allowing Argentina and Brazil to progress to the finals in Italy without having to play any qualifying matches. Egypt became the first African team to compete, but lost to Hungary in the first round. Italy won the tournament, with a 2-1 extra time win over Czechoslovakia, becoming the first European team to do so.

The 1938 World Cup competition was also held in France, much to the consternation of many South Americans, with Uruguay and Argentina boycotting. For the first time, the title holders and the host country were given automatic qualifications. 

Following a play-off match against Latvia, Austria qualified for the tournament, but because of the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938, Austria withdrew from the tournament, with some Austrian players being added to the German team, which was eliminated in the first round by Switzerland. Austria's place was offered to England, but the "snobby" F.A. declined. This left the finals with 15 nations competing. France hosted, but for the first time the hosts did not win the competition, as Italy retained their title, beating Hungary 4-2 in the Final. 

Polish striker Ernest Willimowski became the first player to score four goals in a World Cup game during Poland's 6–5 loss against Brazil; his record was later equalled by other players, but was not bettered until 56 years later in the 1994 World Cup, by Oleg Salenko for Russia against Cameroon when he scored 5.     

                                                                                 

PELE AND JUNE

Bit of a gap then, but I really like spending time doing this and having been away for a few days, I reckon I should keep going just to keep me out of mischief. The Mrs agrees!

Pele scored his first World Cup goal on June 19th 1958, against Wales, and a fraction over 12 years later, on 21st June 1970, he scored his last goal in the World Cup. Coincidence! Worth knowing just in case you need to liven up some chat at the pub. This time, the opposition was Italy in the World Cup Final at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium in front of a 107,412 crowd. Pele scored the first goal in Brazil’s 4-1 victory. 

Brazil	4–1	Italy
Pelé  18' Gérson  66' Jairzinho  71' Carlos Alberto  86'		Boninsegna  37'

With this 1970s, third win after their 1958 and 1962 World Cup victories, Brazil became the world's most successful national football team, surpassing both Italy and Uruguay, who each had two championships. Brazil also earned the right to retain the Jules Rimet Trophy permanently. (However, it was stolen in 1983 while on display in Rio de Janeiro and never recovered.) Brazilian coach Mário Zagallo was the first footballer to become World Cup champion as a player (1958, 1962) and a coach, and Pelé ended his World Cup playing career as the first (and so far only) three-time winner.

That victory saw Brazil become the first nation to win the World Cup three times,with Pele the only player to appear in each of those three finals. The hat-trick of victories saw Brazil allowed to keep the original World Cup  – the Jules Rimet trophy – although sadly that was stolen in 1983 and, with no Brazilian equivalent top Pickles the dog (remember him?) it was never recovered and is believed to have been melted down.

On this day (21st June) in 2002,
Michael Owen gave England the lead against Brazil in the World Cup quarter-finals, in Shizuoka in Japan, but goals from Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, (a free-kick from over 40 yards which beat David Seaman)  saw 10-man Brazil into the Semi-finals against Turkey. What might have been!

and in the Final, on June 30th